Brussels, 02/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - Fishing fleets that supply major consumer brands are using giant trawlers in an area known as the 'Arctic Galapagos', according to a new Greenpeace investigation published on Wednesday 2 March.
The Barents Sea is in the Arctic Ocean between Norway and western Russia. The environmental NGO asserts that suppliers of well-known brands Birdseye, Findus and Iglo, as well as fish restaurants across Europe are implicated in this destructive form of fishing in the north of the Barents Sea. Greenpeace also adds that many of these brands proudly display their commitment to sustainability on their packaging on their product packaging.
Greenpeace experts have used satellite data and field work to track an “increasing” number of trawlers operating in the Northern Barents Sea, an “ecologically significant” area according to scientists. The region, which includes the Svalbard archipelago, is home to vulnerable species including the polar bear, bowhead whale and Greenland shark.
Greenpeace campaigner Frida Bengtsson said climate change (ice melting) is opening up whole areas of the Arctic. Bengtsson said that some companies see this as a business opportunity, “but we think it's a chance to protect a fragile ecosystem before it's too late”. She is also calling on the huge trawlers from being banned from fishing in the northern Barents Sea.
Greenpeace is calling on fishing companies to stop fishing in the northern Barents Sea, as well as the waters around Svalbard, and for retailers, food brands and processors to “no longer use suppliers that engage in destructive fishing in these waters”. Greenpeace is also calling on the Norwegian government to create a 'Marine Protected Area' in the northern Barents Sea and the waters around Svalbard.
Greenpeace believes bottom trawling to be a “highly destructive” fishing method, which is already responsible for damaging up to half of Norway's cold water corals reefs. At least 70% of all the Atlantic cod that ends up in supermarkets around the world is from the Barents Sea. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)